352 research outputs found
Primordial Non-Gaussianity and Analytical Formula for Minkowski Functionals of the Cosmic Microwave Background and Large-scale Structure
We derive analytical formulae for the Minkowski Functions of the cosmic
microwave background (CMB) and large-scale structure (LSS) from primordial
non-Gaussianity. These formulae enable us to estimate a non-linear coupling
parameter, f_NL, directly from the CMB and LSS data without relying on
numerical simulations of non-Gaussian primordial fluctuations. One can use
these formulae to estimate statistical errors on f_NL from Gaussian
realizations, which are much faster to generate than non-Gaussian ones, fully
taking into account the cosmic/sampling variance, beam smearing, survey mask,
etc. We show that the CMB data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
should be sensitive to |f_NL|\simeq 40 at the 68% confidence level. The Planck
data should be sensitive to |f_NL|\simeq 20. As for the LSS data, the late-time
non-Gaussianity arising from gravitational instability and galaxy biasing makes
it more challenging to detect primordial non-Gaussianity at low redshifts. The
late-time effects obscure the primordial signals at small spatial scales.
High-redshift galaxy surveys at z>2 covering \sim 10Gpc^3 volume would be
required for the LSS data to detect |f_NL|\simeq 100. Minkowski Functionals are
nicely complementary to the bispectrum because the Minkowski Functionals are
defined in real space and the bispectrum is defined in Fourier space. This
property makes the Minksowski Functionals a useful tool in the presence of
real-world issues such as anisotropic noise, foreground and survey masks. Our
formalism can be extended to scale-dependent f_NL easily.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ (Vol. 653, 2006
Peierls instability, periodic Bose-Einstein condensates and density waves in quasi-one-dimensional boson-fermion mixtures of atomic gases
We study the quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) spin-polarized bose-fermi mixture of
atomic gases at zero temperature. Bosonic excitation spectra are calculated in
random phase approximation on the ground state with the uniform BEC, and the
Peierls instabilities are shown to appear in bosonic collective excitation
modes with wave-number by the coupling between the Bogoliubov-phonon
mode of bosonic atoms and the fermion particle-hole excitations. The
ground-state properties are calculated in the variational method, and,
corresponding to the Peierls instability, the state with a periodic BEC and
fermionic density waves with the period are shown to have a lower
energy than the uniform one. We also briefly discuss the Q1D system confined in
a harmonic oscillator (HO) potential and derive the Peierls instability
condition for it.Comment: 9 pages, 3figure
Boson-Fermion coherence in a spherically symmetric harmonic trap
We consider the photoassociation of a low-density gas of quantum-degenerate
trapped fermionic atoms into bosonic molecules in a spherically symmetric
harmonic potential. For a dilute system and the photoassociation coupling
energy small compared to the level separation of the trap, only those fermions
in the single shell with Fermi energy are coupled to the bosonic molecular
field. Introducing a collective pseudo-spin operator formalism we show that
this system can then be mapped onto the Tavis-Cummings Hamiltonian of quantum
optics, with an additional pairing interaction. By exact diagonalization of the
Hamiltonian, we examine the ground state and low excitations of the Bose-Fermi
system, and study the dynamics of the coherent coupling between atoms and
molecules. In a semiclassical description of the system, the pairing
interaction between fermions is shown to result in a self-trapping transition
in the photoassociation, with a sudden suppression of the coherent oscillations
between atoms and molecules. We also show that the full quantum dynamics of the
system is dominated by quantum fluctuations in the vicinity of the
self-trapping solution.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure
Apparent Clustering of Intermediate-redshift Galaxies as a Probe of Dark Energy
We show the apparent redshift-space clustering of galaxies in redshift range
of 0.2--0.4 provides surprisingly useful constraints on dark energy component
in the universe, because of the right balance between the density of objects
and the survey depth. We apply Fisher matrix analysis to the the Luminous Red
Galaxies (LRGs) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), as a concrete example.
Possible degeneracies in the evolution of the equation of state (EOS) and the
other cosmological parameters are clarified.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Phys.Rev.Lett., replaced with the accepted
versio
Hard to "tune in": neural mechanisms of live face-to-face interaction with high-functioning autistic spectrum disorder
Persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are known to have difficulty in eye contact (EC). This may make it difficult for their partners during face to face communication with them. To elucidate the neural substrates of live inter-subject interaction of ASD patients and normal subjects, we conducted hyper-scanning functional MRI with 21 subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) paired with typically-developed (normal) subjects, and with 19 pairs of normal subjects as a control. Baseline EC was maintained while subjects performed real-time joint-attention task. The task-related effects were modeled out, and inter-individual correlation analysis was performed on the residual time-course data. ASD-Normal pairs were less accurate at detecting gaze direction than Normal-Normal pairs. Performance was impaired both in ASD subjects and in their normal partners. The left occipital pole (OP) activation by gaze processing was reduced in ASD subjects, suggesting that deterioration of eye-cue detection in ASD is related to impairment of early visual processing of gaze. On the other hand, their normal partners showed greater activity in the bilateral occipital cortex and the right prefrontal area, indicating a compensatory workload. Inter-brain coherence in the right IFG that was observed in the Normal-Normal pairs (Saito et al., 2010) during EC diminished in ASD-Normal pairs. Intra-brain functional connectivity between the right IFG and right superior temporal sulcus (STS) in normal subjects paired with ASD subjects was reduced compared with in Normal-Normal pairs. This functional connectivity was positively correlated with performance of the normal partners on the eye-cue detection. Considering the integrative role of the right STS in gaze processing, inter-subject synchronization during EC may be a prerequisite for eye cue detection by the normal partner
Interaction of temperature with hematocrit level and pH determines safe duration of hypothermic circulatory arrest
AbstractObjectivePrevious studies have demonstrated that both hematocrit level and pH influence the protection afforded by deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The current study examines how temperature modulates the effect of hematocrit level and pH in determining a safe duration of circulatory arrest. The study also builds on previous work investigating the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy as a real-time monitor of cerebral protection during circulatory arrest.MethodsSeventy-six piglets (9.3 ± 1.2 kg) underwent circulatory arrest under varying conditions with continuous monitoring by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (hematocrit level of 20% or 30%; pH-stat or alpha-stat strategy; temperature of 15°C or 25°C; arrest time of 60, 80, or 100 minutes). Neurologic recovery was evaluated daily by a veterinarian, and the brain was fixed in situ on postoperative day 4 to be examined on the basis of histologic score in a blinded fashion.ResultsMultivariable analysis of total histologic score revealed that higher temperature, lower hematocrit level, more alkaline pH, and longer hypothermic circulatory arrest duration were predictive of more severe damage to the brain (P < .01). Regression modeling revealed that higher temperature exacerbated the disadvantage of a lower hematocrit level and longer arrest times but not pH strategy. Normalized oxyhemoglobin nadir time, derived from near-infrared spectroscopy, was positively correlated with neurologic recovery on the fourth postoperative day and with total histologic injury score (P < .0001).ConclusionHematocrit level and pH, as well as temperature, determine the safe duration of hypothermic circulatory arrest. Near-infrared spectroscopy is a useful real-time monitor of safe duration of circulatory arrest
The Airn lncRNA does not require any DNA elements within its locus to silence distant imprinted genes
Long non-coding (lnc) RNAs are numerous and found throughout the mammalian genome, and many are thought to be involved in the regulation of gene expression. However, the majority remain relatively uncharacterised and of uncertain function making the use of model systems to uncover their mode of action valuable. Imprinted lncRNAs target and recruit epigenetic silencing factors to a cluster of imprinted genes on the same chromosome, making them one of the best characterized lncRNAs for silencing distant genes in cis. In this study we examined silencing of the distant imprinted gene Slc22a3 by the lncRNA Airn in the Igf2r imprinted cluster in mouse. Previously we proposed that imprinted lncRNAs may silence distant imprinted genes by disrupting promoter-enhancer interactions by being transcribed through the enhancer, which we called the enhancer interference hypothesis. Here we tested this hypothesis by first using allele-specific chromosome conformation capture (3C) to detect interactions between the Slc22a3 promoter and the locus of the Airn lncRNA that silences it on the paternal chromosome. In agreement with the model, we found interactions enriched on the maternal allele across the entire Airn gene consistent with multiple enhancer-promoter interactions. Therefore, to test the enhancer interference hypothesis we devised an approach to delete the entire Airn gene. However, the deletion showed that there are no essential enhancers for Slc22a2, Pde10a and Slc22a3 within the Airn gene, strongly indicating that the Airn RNA rather than its transcription is responsible for silencing distant imprinted genes. Furthermore, we found that silent imprinted genes were covered with large blocks of H3K27me3 on the repressed paternal allele. Therefore we propose an alternative hypothesis whereby the chromosome interactions may initially guide the lncRNA to target imprinted promoters and recruit repressive chromatin, and that these interactions are lost once silencing is established
Three-point Correlation Functions of SDSS Galaxies in Redshift Space: Morphology, Color, and Luminosity Dependence
We present measurements of the redshift--space three-point correlation
function of galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). For the first
time, we analyze the dependence of this statistic on galaxy morphology, color
and luminosity. In order to control systematics due to selection effects, we
used --band, volume-limited samples of galaxies, constructed from the
magnitude-limited SDSS data (), and further divided the samples
into two morphological types (early and late) or two color populations (red and
blue). The three-point correlation function of SDSS galaxies follow the
hierarchical relation well and the reduced three-point amplitudes in
redshift--space are almost scale-independent (). In addition,
their dependence on the morphology, color and luminosity is not statistically
significant. Given the robust morphological, color and luminosity dependences
of the two-point correlation function, this implies that galaxy biasing is
complex on weakly non-linear to non-linear scales. We show that simple
deterministic linear relation with the underlying mass could not explain our
measurements on these scales.Comment: order of figures are changed. 9 pages, 15 figure
Spatial Clustering of Galaxies in Large Datasets
Datasets with tens of millions of galaxies present new challenges for the
analysis of spatial clustering. We have built a framework that integrates a
database of object catalogs, tools for creating masks of bad regions, and a
fast (NlogN) correlation code. This system has enabled unprecedented efficiency
in carrying out the analysis of galaxy clustering in the SDSS catalog. A
similar approach is used to compute the three-dimensional spatial clustering of
galaxies on very large scales. We describe our strategy to estimate the effect
of photometric errors using a database. We discuss our efforts as an early
example of data-intensive science. While it would have been possible to get
these results without the framework we describe, it will be infeasible to
perform these computations on the future huge datasets without using this
framework.Comment: original documents at
http://research.microsoft.com/scripts/pubs/view.asp?TR_ID=MSR-TR-2002-8
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